Games That Are Better Drunk

Call Some Friends And Play These Games Over The Holidays. But They're Better If You're Drunk.

Holidays are a time for family and friends and food and fun and. And probably some booze. OK, definitely at least some booze.

But these holidays can’t be reduced to endless games of college football and gluttonous eating and naps. Yes, there will be naps. But it can’t all be naps. These times are made for get-togethers, house parties and perfect for hosting game nights.

We’ve compiled a short list of games that will inject hilarity, tomfoolery and in some cases debauchery to your holiday. Stock up the liquor cabinet and call some friends over.

Taboo

Taboo should come with a warning label. This game will be loud. There will be shouting. Arguments are inevitable and don’t be afraid of the buzzer.

The objective of the game is for one player to help his/her teammates guess a word on the player’s card without using the word itself or any of the additional five words listed on the player’s card. One of the fun parts is that if the player that is giving the clues says any of the words on the card, or any part of the word, one player on the opposing team that gets to act as a Taboo word security officer, gets to sound a loud and annoying buzzer in that player’s ear.

If you want to add alcohol, things can get a little fuzzy, literally. This can be played a number of ways: Each point scored can equal one drink for a player of your choice on the opposing team, each round lost could equal a shot for the entire team that lost the round or the player giving clues can take a drink for every time they get buzzed for violating the rules.

Cards Against Humanity

Originally the game was made for an NYE celebration by a group of Highland Park High School alumni. Started with a Kickstarter page in December 2010. The person that starts as the Card Czar is the person who most recently took a shit. The card czar reads the black card aloud. Each player submits a white card to fill in the blank. The card czar choses the funniest response and that person gets a point.

If it helps, I just played a round free online. My first connection: “Help me doctor, I’ve got ghosts in my butt!” Other options included “insatiable bloodlust”, “an asymmetric boob job” and “a gender identity that can only be conveyed through slam poetry.”

Jenga

Any opportunity to gather with friends only to gang up and point and laugh at the mistakes of another friend is an opportunity that cannot be lost. It is the holiday season after all. The rules to the game are simple: each player removed one block at a time from a tower of 54 blocks. Players are only allowed to use one hand. Each removed block is replaced at the top of the tower and the player that topples the tower loses.

If you’ve been drinking before the game starts, it’ll add another layer of difficulty. But if you can make Jenga a drinking game try labeling the blocks. Take any number of Jenga pieces and mark them with any variety of instructions like “take a drink”, “give a drink” or “finish your drink.” You can also label the pieces with instructions to bark like a dog, sprint three laps around the house or, depending on the variety of guests, remove an article of clothing. But keep it clean if Grammy is in the kitchen eating left over pumpkin pie.

Heads Up

If you’ve ever wanted to see what it feel like to have a small mob crowding around you shouting random phrases like, “he’s huge and his name is Andre. There’s also a team of them that play football,” then you’ll love this game that started as a segment on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and later became an app available on iOS and Android devices. The way this game works is that one player guesses words on a card while their teammates hurl clues at them.

The best part about this game is that the application records the team giving the clues – which in some cases they’ll have to act out. Add liquor to this game (loser of each round takes shots) and those videos are going to be a memory worth keeping for years to come.

Manhunt

Yes, manhunt is an adult game of hide-and-seek. You gather in a circle and in any method of eliminating people you chose, you narrow your group down to one and that person is “it.” You’ll need to chose a home base, where players can reach safely and cannot be tagged. Usually that designation goes to the house in which your group originally gathered. You’ll also need to designate an area that is allowable for hiding. Make it no more than a two-block radius depending on the number of players.

Once the game begins, each player that is found and tagged by the player that is “it” now becomes part of the hunting team. The first player to get tagged is “it” for the next round. Just think about the last time you screamed out, "you're it!"

The best way to add alcohol to this leave the alcohol at the home base. There is no need for a drinking penalty here. Drinking is the reward. Just be careful. A bunch of drunken adults chasing each other through the streets at night is usually a reason for someone to call the police.